Choosing Cornerstone Pediatrics

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Our vaccine policy follows the schedule outlined by the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) and the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention).  We believe the single most important preventative medical intervention is vaccines.  We are happy at your child's well care visit to discuss vaccines, the science behind vaccines, your questions, concerns and our recommendations. Our goal is to work with you, not against you.  We recognize that the choice to vaccinate may be an emotional choice for some parents, but as we feel so strongly about this issue- we do not accept patients whose parents refuse all vaccines.  As a result, if your immunization philosophy differs from our view, we would ask that you choose another medical office for your child that aligns with your preferences and shares your medical philosophy. 

We work hard to not overuse antibiotics. We educate families on appropriate use of antibiotics, but follow evidence-based guidelines. We do not automatically treat ear pain or a green snotty nose with antibiotics. We do not routinely prescribe antibiotics over the phone as we do not believe that is best practice. We will prescribe an antibiotic when we believe it is an appropriate treatment.

Please call our office number 757-410-9600 to schedule appointments. We do our best to accommodate same day sick appointments for our patients, but recommend that consults, chronic medical condition appointments be made in advance to best accommodate your child and Dr. McNeill's schedule. 

Sometimes an appointment may not be needed.  For questions and concerns you may have about your child's health, development and/or behavior, you can call our office during business hours and our nurse or our experienced medical assistants can triage your concerns,  Well child visits may be scheduled up to 3-6 months in advance. Please call during routine office hours to schedule these appointments or send us a message on the patient portal!

We make every effort to meet the needs of our patients, we schedule both routine well visits and sick visit appointments during traditional business hours on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. We highly recommend you call ahead to schedule an appointment. We see same day sick visits all day on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Friday mornings.  Please familiarize yourself with our office hours to see if they work for your family.

If your child is a patient of Cornerstone and you have concerns about your child being sick outside of regular business hours, you can call the office phone number at 757-410-9600.  This phone number will be answered by the answering service who will contact our Anytime Pediatrics on call service. There is always a doctor on call 24/7 and you should never feel your child's care is uncovered.   Many insurance plans also offer a On-Call service as noted on your insurance card.  If it is a non urgent question that can wait until the next business day, please wait for normal business hours or send a message to our patient portal.

Please sure we participate with your insurance plan.  

With the myriad of insurance plans available to our families, it is your responsibility to know the limits and coverage of your particular health insurance policy.  We will do our best to assist you with insurance plan; however, if you have questions about your coverage, it is best to check with your specific insurance company. 

We will ask you to bring your insurance card and ID at each visit, and please be prepared to pay any co-pays at the time of service. 

Our office does not want you to be surprised by a bill, but we must always bill your health plan based on federal guidelines and the actual services provided.

Insurance co-pays are expected to be paid at the time of service. If you are unable to comply, you must work with our office prior to the visit to set up a payment plan.

Cornerstone Pediatrics is committed to making our billing process as simple and easy as possible.

For this reason, we ask that ALL patients provide a credit card on file with our office. 

We will scan your card with a card reader. that will store your card number in a secure location in your electronic medical record. For security reasons, only the last four digits will be visible to our staff. Credit cards on file may be used to pay co-pays when you are seen in our office, including account balances after your insurance processes your claim.

We gladly reserve appointment times for you and appreciate that you have chosen Dr. Dianne and Cornerstone Pediatrics for your care. As a courtesy, we will remind you of your appointment by calling you prior to your scheduled date and time. If we cannot speak directly to you, we will leave a message. However, in the event your mailbox is full or your line is busy, our efforts to contact you may be unsuccessful. An appointment is a contract of time reserved for your treatment. 

We respect our patients’ valuable time and we request the same courtesy from our patients. Please extend this courtesy should you need to cancel and/or reschedule your appointment. We reserve the right to charge for regular appointments cancelled or broken without advance notice of 24 hours. After three (3) “no shows” we reserve the right to discharge your family from our practice.

We understand sometimes things happen beyond your control that may cause you to be late. However, we reserve the right to ask you to reschedule if you arrive late for your appointment.